Age of Adepts

The Fire Prison had temporarily prevented the molten-giant guards from interfering, but Greem didn’t have that much time to act.

Second Grade spells could only keep a six-meter-tall Fire Lord, made of volcanic rocks as hard as steel, in check. They wouldn’t be able to harm him in the slightest. Moreover, the casting of a Second Grade spell required a fairly long channeling and chanting time. There was no way that Greem would have the room to cast spells freely unless Artes was a deaf fool.

However, Greem’s magical traps had still managed to trap the Fire Lord for five seconds, and these five seconds were enough for him and the Flame Fiend of Terror to work together to cast an extremely large Magma Fireball. Artes had just expelled the frost energy from the surface of his body and was blown to the ground by this powerful fireball. A deep crater one-meter in diameter appeared in the center of his chest, sending cracks in every direction around it.

A battle between fire users was simply this violent and aggressive!

The burning effect of flame was practically negated against each other. As such, the only damage that could be done to the opponent had to be with hard fists or the physical effects of the spells they used.

When the berserk Artes roared and climbed up from the pool, the Flame Fiend of Terror charged forth with a magma executioner’s blade. Meanwhile, Greem stayed back and quickly chanted a profound spell.

The Flame Fiend of Terror specialized in elementium powers and wasn’t possibly a match for the ferocious Artes in a close-range encounter. However, it still had to charge without hesitation to buy time for Greem’s spell.

Greem absorbed all the fire energy he could from the mysterious array he had laid in the pool and used his Fire Molding ability to gather the fire elementium between his hands into sharp fire spears. He then shot the spears toward Artes.

Though his eighteen points of Strength after transformation was still inferior to a monster like Artes, it was more than enough to break through Artes’ defenses when throwing weapons. The crimson fire spears turned into bolts of fire and pierced into the gaps in Artes’ magma body before detonating in shocking, explosion-like powerful fireballs.

Artes might be immune to fire damage of this level, but he wasn’t resistant to the piercing damage from the spears themselves or the shockwave impact of the explosions.

The magma armor on Artes’ body fell off, layer by layer. Soon, his true form was revealed.

Artes enjoyed bathing in the lava for two reasons. He could absorb the pure fire energy within, while also drawing upon the magma to increase the thickness of his body’s surface. No wonder he never got sick of bathing in the lava, even after so many years.

A tough outer shell provided one with a considerable upper hand in battles between fire creatures!

At this moment, Greem truly understood what it was like to see two six-meter-tall fire creatures battle in front of him. As the earth trembled from the brutal fight, the entire magma pool was subjected to a calamity. Large pools of lava splashed out toward the surroundings as the fire hall itself quaked and trembled.

Overall, it seemed like Fire Lord Artes was beating up on the Flame Fiend. His massive and heavy magma fists sent sparks flying everywhere when they landed on the Flame Fiend’s head. In fact, it seemed as if the Flame Fiend’s head had started to twist and distort in shape.

If it weren’t for the mysterious array at the bottom of the pool supplying the Flame Fiend with energy, it would have been destroyed by Artes within one or two minutes of the fight.

However, despite the overwhelming beatdown it was receiving, the Flame Fiend of Terror was doing its job. Every time Fire Lord Artes wanted to get up and lunge at Greem, the Flame Fiend intercepted him and continued the fight.

Meanwhile, the constant fire spear attacks from Greem were also making it difficult for Artes to concentrate on the battle against the Flame Fiend. Even with all his wild power and unyielding body, Artes could not fight off two opponents of the same grade at once.

Artes started roaring as he fought.

Several deep shouts rang out in succession from the center of the city, and towering molten giants emerged from the buildings. They knocked aside the low-grade fire elementals in their way and rushed to the fire hall with all they had.

An unusually tall and muscular molten giant stood out among the rest.

Judging from its size and its posture when striding, it was that Second Grade Guard Captain Firerend!

Greem saw all of his happening through the magical eye he had left outside. His face, even hidden under the flames, flushed white.

He only had three minutes at most now.

There was no chance of succeeding at killing a powerful Second Grade Fire Lord if he took no risks. If he waited too long, then Artes’ many subordinates would arrive; the Fire Prison wouldn’t last more than a few seconds then.

At this instant, Greem gave up on his long-range harassment tactics. He turned and roared as he formed a magma sword in his hands. He lunged forward and worked together with the Flame Fiend to fight against Artes.

The power of long-ranged fire spells was too easily weakened and resisted when dealing with a Second Grade Fire Lord. A Second Grade fire spell was far less effective than a fire fist thrown with all his strength.

It had only been two fire creatures brawling earlier. Now, it was three!

Greem was not Artes’ opponent when it came to Strength.

Even after transformation, Greem only had 18 points of Strength, while Artes had 27. Just a little bit more, and Artes would have an overwhelming advantage against Greem.

Five points of difference in Strength caused Greem to be knocked back with every exchanged blow. He stumbled backward, having trouble even standing still. If the difference in Strength had reached 10 points, then Greem’s fire fists would have been smashed to pieces by Artes’ magma fists.

That would have been an even more terrible scenario to behold!

[Lower your head; dodge two meters to the left. Upward slash. Location of attack has been marked.]

Greem himself had no talent for brawling and was relying entirely on the Chip’s notifications to aid him in battle. He lowered his head and dodged a violent fist from Artes. He then stepped two meters to the left and dodged another sneaky knee strike.

Greem took advantage of Artes’ momentum and slashed upward with his magma sword, going from below to above, cutting right across Artes’ exposed chest. The serrated blade of the sword clashed with Artes’ strong magma body, sending sparks into the air and spilling red lava out on the ground.

It wasn’t actual lava, but the blood flowing through Fire Lord Artes’ body!

With the help of the Chip’s powerful combat-aid system, Greem’s vision was filled with colorful lights and continually appearing and vanishing red lines. The red lines appeared on Artes’ body, highlighting the gaps in his defenses and the weak points on his body.

These red lines steadily shifted and changed as Artes continued to move about. A dark red line on his chest earlier would vanish by the time Greem reached a position to attack as Artes changed his own pose.

The red lines vanished and appeared, always appearing on different parts of Artes’ body. Attacking these places would cause maximum damage with minimum force. According to the Earth terminology from Greem’s previous life, these were likely ‘critical hits’!

The red lines were always shifting in position. Greem could hardly even catch one-fifth of them with his current fighting skills. However, just these one-fifth of these ‘critical hits’ allowed him to wound Artes repeatedly during the fight.

However, Greem wasn’t doing all that well either. His magma sword had been snapped in half, while half his head and chest had caved in. Moreover, the Flame Fiend of Terror acted as the principal offense and was practically crippled now. It was in a terrible state.

As Second Grade creatures, their battle shouldn’t look so crude and ugly!

Ordinary battles between Second Grade creatures always started with long-range bombardment, trying to find the opponent’s weaknesses while they moved around and dodged the enemy’s projectiles. It was only when magical powers could not effectively harm the enemy that they would attempt to go into a melee. None of them would be like Greem, entering a cruel life-and-death battle at the very start of the fight!

There was only one chance!

Artes would never give him a second chance if he failed to kill him this time.

Greem took out all he had and bet everything upon this ambush. He was giving his all!

From the start of the battle until now, Greem had relied on the Chip’s assistance to leave seven or eight holes in Artes’ body. His own body had also been beaten up by Artes’ heavy magma fists and was in terrible condition.

However, such damage wasn’t enough to kill the Fire Lord with his 24 points of Physique. At this moment, the molten-giant reinforcements had already arrived at the entrance of the fire hall. They would only need a dozen seconds to arrive at the Fire Prison.

Greem didn’t have much time left!

We’re going in.

Greem roared and appeared near Artes with a Fire Teleportation. Untamed fire energy gathered between his hands and turned into a new magma sword which he stabbed into the crater on Artes’ chest.

The Fire Lord’s reaction was swift. He opened his left hand and grabbed the front of the sword, allowing the red magma to splash onto his hands, refusing to let go. He then lifted his right fist and smashed it at Greem’s battered head with ferocious strength.

The massive fist whistled through the air. The immense air pressure was already pressing against Greem’s Inferno Shield even before it had made contact.

Greem’s eyes turned cold and solemn.